JP2013017000A - Image processing apparatus and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically sort the recording destination of photographed image data according to an event schedule recorded as calendar information, thereby facilitating management of image data.SOLUTION: First of all, an image processing apparatus obtains information on photographing date and time of image data and the calendar information including at least one piece of event information (S402 and S403). Then, the apparatus determines whether the events included in the calendar information include a target event the event time zone of which overlaps with the photographing date and time, the time zone being designated to each event (S405). If a target event is included, the image data is recorded in a folder corresponding to the target event (S407). If the target event is not included, the image data is recorded in another folder (S408).

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method for recording captured image data.

  In recent years, there has been a remarkable spread of imaging devices such as digital cameras and digital camera-equipped mobile phones that capture still images and moving images and record the captured image data. As a recording format in such an image pickup apparatus, a camera file system standard (DCF: Design rule for Camera File system) established by the Japan Electronics Industry Promotion Association is widely used.

  Conventionally, as a method for creating a new folder for recording image data or the like according to this DCF standard, for example, a method has been proposed in which a user sets automatic creation conditions for a recording folder in units of date and time, such as “daily” or “weekly”. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this method, for example, it is assumed that the user sets the automatic creation condition of the recording destination folder to “daily” through the user interface of the camera. In this case, when the image data shot on the same date as the current date and time is already saved at the time of shooting, and there is no recording destination folder corresponding to the current date and time, a new folder is created and the created folder is stored in the created folder. Save the shot image. As a result, the user can record the imaged image data grouped in accordance with a calendar such as date or week, and the convenience of image data management is enhanced.

  According to the DCF standard, a new folder is created when the number of image data stored in an existing recording destination folder reaches a prescribed upper limit. Therefore, in the method for setting the automatic creation conditions for a new folder as described above, for example, there may be a case where not all image data captured on the same day can be stored in one recording destination folder. As described above, if image data photographed on the same day is stored in a plurality of recording destination folders, it becomes difficult to manage the image data simply corresponding to the calendar.

  Therefore, a technique is disclosed that enables management as if it corresponds to a calendar by managing image data recorded in different recording destination folders in a virtual folder corresponding to the shooting date and time ( For example, see Patent Document 2).

JP 2007-027992 JP JP 2009-271983

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, since the automatic folder creation condition is a date / time unit, it is not easy to generate a recording destination corresponding to a specific event. In addition, when image data is managed using the virtual folder described in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that management such as copying the actual data of the image data to another recording medium is complicated.

  For example, I would like to record only image data taken at an athletic competition held from 9:30 to 15:00 on October 10. In addition, as for the other image data taken on the same day, there may be a demand for recording in a recording destination created for each date as before. In this case, it is not always easy to set distribution for all image data captured on that day. The same problem occurs when using virtual folders according to date.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem. Image data management is facilitated by automatically assigning the recording destination of captured image data according to event information recorded as calendar information. Make it possible.

  As a means for achieving the above object, an image processing apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement.

  That is, image data acquisition means for acquiring information of captured image data and shooting date and time, calendar information acquisition means for acquiring calendar information, and event information specified in the event information included in the calendar information Event determination means for determining whether or not there is target event information that overlaps the time zone and the shooting date and time, and image data determined to have target event information as the first recording destination for the target event Recording control means for recording and recording image data determined to have no information in a second recording destination.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily manage image data by automatically assigning the recording destination of photographed image data according to event information recorded as calendar information.

The block diagram which shows the functional module structure of the digital camera in this embodiment, Block diagram showing the internal configuration of the digital camera, Figure showing an example of calendar information, A flowchart showing shooting / recording processing; Figure showing a user interface example for creating a folder. Figure showing correspondence example of calendar information and folder, The figure which shows the corresponding example of the imaging | photography time zone and event of a moving image in 2nd Embodiment. The figure which shows the correspondence example of the calendar information and web service in 3rd Embodiment, It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the image service on the web in 4th Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention related to the scope of claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are essential to the solution means of the present invention. Not necessarily.

<First Embodiment>
Apparatus Configuration Overview First, a configuration of a digital camera will be described as an example of an image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually showing the functional module configuration of a digital camera in the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 101 denotes an imaging module that captures still images, moving images, and the like. The imaging module 101 converts, for example, an optical image obtained through a lens into digital data. The digital data may be a still image or a moving image. Alternatively, acoustic data obtained through a microphone may be used. An application module 102 performs processing of the obtained digital data, operation of the digital camera, and the like. The application module 102 functions as a control application for the digital camera, such as processing for shaping digital data into an optimal format for recording, and controlling the imaging module 101 to perform shooting start processing and end processing. Reference numeral 103 denotes a user interface (hereinafter referred to as UI) that performs a user operation on the application module 102, display according to the operation, and the like. For example, the UI 103 operates a digital camera and inputs an instruction to the application module 102. As a result, processing such as the application module 102 controlling the imaging module 101 and starting imaging is performed. The UI 103 also has a function of displaying an image being shot.

  A recording module 104 performs a recording control process for recording the obtained digital data, that is, image data in the recording unit 105. Although details will be described later, the recording module 104 holds a correspondence between a preset event and a folder in the recording unit 105, and controls recording in a folder to be recorded. A calendar module 106 controls the calendar information 107 and has a characteristic configuration in the present embodiment. More detailed functions of the calendar module 106 will be described later. The calendar information 107 is recorded in advance with detailed date and time information such as events, and the details thereof will be described later. The calendar information 107 is referred to by the calendar module 106, but the calendar information in this embodiment is information that is selectively used and does not necessarily exist permanently. A communication module 108 provides a communication function to the digital camera, and provides, for example, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) function for performing network communication via the Internet or the like. With this communication module 108, the digital camera can communicate image data captured by the imaging module 101 to the outside or acquire various information from the outside. Of course, the network communication function provided by the communication module 108 is not limited to the wireless LAN function, but may be a wired LAN or public wireless communication such as a mobile phone network. Reference numeral 109 denotes a network to which the digital camera is connected by the communication module 108, and is expressed as a schematic cloud-shaped illustration for easy understanding. The calendar information 110 is the same as the calendar information 107, but is held in, for example, another information processing apparatus, and can be accessed via the network 109. Note that each of the communication module 108, the network 109, and the calendar information 110 is information that is selectively used in the same manner as the calendar information 107.

General shooting operation First, as a general operation of the digital camera having the above-described configuration, a flow of processing for shooting and recording a still image will be briefly described. The user first operates the UI 103 to instruct shooting. This corresponds to, for example, pressing a shutter button in a digital camera. The application module 102 detects this operation and instructs the imaging module 101 to perform shooting. Then, the imaging module 101 performs an optical operation such as lens driving and outputs digital data. The digital data output from the imaging module 101 is detected again by the application module 102 and converted into a recording format. Next, the application module 102 acquires a recording destination from the recording module 104. As this recording destination, for example, a recording folder defined by the camera file system standard (DCF) is acquired. Here, it is assumed that a new folder is created every day as a folder creation condition in the digital camera. If the acquired recording folder is not the date of shooting, that is, the current folder, the application module 102 instructs the recording module 104 to create a new folder. The recording module 104 generates a new folder according to the instruction. After creating the folder, the application module 102 instructs the recording module 104 to record a still image that is digital data converted into a recording format. The recording module 104 records the instructed digital data in today's folder.

● Details of Internal Configuration In the above, a general photographing / recording process based on the functional module configuration of the digital camera shown in FIG. 1 has been described. Next, the photographing / recording process using the calendar information, which is characteristic in the present embodiment, will be described. Prior to that, FIG. 2 shows a detailed internal configuration of the digital camera, which will be described. In addition, since the photographing operation using a still image as an example has been described with reference to FIG. 1, a moving image will be described below as an example.

  In FIG. 2, an image of a subject to be photographed is imaged on an optical sensor 205 through a photographing lens unit 201 that forms an optical system. The taking lens unit 201 has a mechanism in which a lens group is moved by, for example, a motor (not shown) for focusing, and direct control thereof is performed by a taking lens unit drive circuit 202. When the photographic lens unit 201 is driven, the diaphragm unit 203 including the diaphragm is operated by the diaphragm unit driving circuit 204 so that the amount of light imaged on the optical sensor 205 is appropriately adjusted. The optical sensor 205 is configured by a solid-state imaging device (CCD, CMOS, or the like), and has a property of converting incident light into charges according to an optical amount and storing the charges. This electric charge is read and digitized by the A / D converter 207, thereby generating an uncompressed digital image. The optical sensor 205 is controlled by a pulse signal or the like output from the optical sensor driving circuit 206, and repeats a series of operations for reading out charges accumulated within a designated time at a designated timing, whereby a digital image is continuous. Obtained. The digital images continuously acquired in this way are naturally moving images, but it goes without saying that the present embodiment can be similarly applied to still images.

  Next, in order to perform compression encoding, digital images obtained continuously, that is, moving images, are first subjected to image correction processing such as white balance correction and gamma correction in the image signal processing circuit 208, and then the compression circuit. Passed to 209. Such transfer of digital images between the respective components is performed by high-speed access to the memory 210 using, for example, a DMA (Direct Memory Access) circuit.

  The compression circuit 209 implements a predetermined encoding algorithm for compressing a moving image. For example, so-called motion JPEG encoding is performed by continuous JPEG (ISO / IEC 10918) encoding. In this case, if the digital image input from the image signal processing circuit 208 is an RGB signal, first, conversion into a YC signal composed of a luminance signal Y and a chroma signal CbCr is performed. Then, after dividing into blocks of 8 × 8 pixels, a final compressed image is generated by performing processing such as discrete cosine transform, quantization, and Huffman coding. It is also conceivable that the compression circuit 209 performs encoding with inter-frame prediction such as MPEG-2 (ISO / IEC 13818) or MPEG-4 (ISO / IEC 14496). In this case, by performing motion compensation prediction, macroblock processing, etc. while referring to the previous and next frames for a specific image (frame) to be compressed, compressed images (bits) that depend on each other before and after Stream) is output. The compressed moving image output from the compression circuit 209 is temporarily stored in the memory 210 and formed into a recording file format, and then output to a recording medium such as a memory card via the external storage I / F circuit 212. . Here, the recording medium for outputting the compressed image has been described as an external recording medium such as a memory card. However, this may be a built-in flash memory, a recordable optical disc such as a CD-R or DVD-R, It may be a magneto-optical disk or the like.

  The CPU 215 performs processing for controlling the series of photographing / recording operations described above in real time and optimizing the processing of each block. That is, the CPU 215 executes a program operation based on a so-called control program (firmware). The control program is normally stored in the ROM 214 as static information. The digital camera according to the present embodiment performs the overall operation by reading a control program from the ROM 214 as needed from the time of startup and processing it by the CPU 215. The control program processed by the CPU 215 also has other processing functions. For example, it gives an operation instruction to the photographing lens unit 201 to perform processing such as zoom operation (movement of focal length) and autofocus. In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the CPU 215 also controls processing such as detecting that a button for starting / stopping recording is pressed on the UI 103 and starting a series of video shooting processing. .

  The nonvolatile memory 211 is used for the purpose of storing folder creation conditions, calendar information 107, and the like. The folder creation condition and calendar information 107 may be stored in an external storage device such as a memory card accessed via the external storage I / F circuit 212. The communication circuit 213 is a circuit corresponding to the communication module 108 shown in FIG. 1, and controls communication processing in the digital camera. The system clock 216 provides current date and time information in the digital camera.

Calendar Information Hereinafter, photographing processing using calendar information, which is a feature of the present embodiment, will be described in detail. FIG. 3 shows a specific example of calendar information 107 (or calendar information 110) in the present embodiment. In the example of FIG. 3, for convenience, there are descriptions of item names such as “line number” and “content” and line numbers themselves (“01” to “14”), but the calendar information 107 does not necessarily include these. It does not have to be. In addition, a space is left between some lines for easy viewing.

  The notation of the calendar information 107 illustrated in FIG. 3 follows RFC2445 in IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). That is, it is the standardized Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar) format. The description of the so-called iCalendar format in FIG. 3 will be briefly described below. First, lines 01 and 14 indicate that the contents described during this period are calendar information. Lines 02 and 03 indicate the format of calendar information. The lines 04 to 13 are substantial contents as calendar information. In this example, two pieces of information (hereinafter referred to as events) of lines 04 to 08 and lines 09 to 13 are included. The first event is the time zone from “9:30 on October 10, 2010” to “14:00 on October 10, 2010” at the time of “Tokyo”. ". Next, the second event is a time zone that spans 10 days from “October 11, 2010” to the day before “October 21, 2010”. Yes.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the calendar module 106 acquires the calendar information 107 having the contents shown in FIG. On the other hand, the application module 102 acquires the current time from a system clock 216 built in the digital camera. If the current time is 11:15 on October 10, 2010, it is understood that this is included in the time zone of the athletic meet, which is the first event of the calendar information 107 illustrated in FIG. When a user operates the UI 103 to give a shooting instruction, the above-described processing for digitizing shooting data and forming it into a recording format is performed. In the present embodiment, at this time, the calendar information 107 is compared with the photographing date and time. As a result, when the shooting date / time matches an event, the application module 102 acquires the folder in the recording unit 105 corresponding to the event from the correspondence information managed by the recording module 104. If the folder corresponding to the event does not exist, it is newly created. The photographing data is recorded in a recording folder corresponding to the event. For example, if the current time at the time of shooting is 11:15 on October 10, 2010 as in the above example, the folder corresponding to the athletic meet event is the recording destination.

  Here, in the example of FIG. 3, when the current time at the time of shooting is, for example, 12:30 on October 9, 2010, since it does not correspond to any event, processing different from the above is performed. . In other words, recording processing is performed by the conventional method for shooting data in a time zone in which no event exists.

  Although FIG. 3 shows an example of calendar information in the so-called iCalendar format, the calendar information is not limited to this format. For example, there is a format called Dublin Core as a format for recording time and events. Alternatively, an RDF (Resource Description Framework) format calendar studied by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) or the like is also known. Further, the calendar information may be in a unique format as long as information on time such as date, day of the week, and time, and information for specifying an event are described.

Shooting / Recording Processing Hereinafter, shooting / recording processing in the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is described starting from a state in which a user has pressed a photographing button such as a shutter button and image data can be acquired in a recordable format.

  First, the application module 102 acquires image data via the imaging module 101 or the like (S401). Here, a still image is assumed as the image data, and it is assumed that, for example, JPEG-compressed file format data is acquired. Next, the current time is acquired from the system clock 216 as shooting date / time information (S402). Note that it is not always necessary to newly acquire the current time from the system clock 216 as the shooting date / time information. The date / time information acquired at the time of shooting is temporarily stored in the memory, and the date / time information temporarily stored in S402. You may get Alternatively, when the still image data includes information indicating the shooting date and time, the shooting date and time information may be acquired from the still image data.

  After acquiring the shooting date / time information, calendar information 107 stored in the camera is acquired (S403), and an event included in the calendar information 107 is extracted (S404). In the example of FIG. 3, two events of “athletic meet” and “overseas travel” are extracted.

  Then, based on the shooting date / time information and event information obtained as described above, it is determined whether there is an event associated with the shooting date / time (S405). Specifically, it is determined whether or not there is a shooting date and time that overlaps the event time zone set in the event information. Hereinafter, an event in which the shooting date and time overlaps the event time zone is referred to as a target event.

  When it is determined that there is a target event, a recording destination (first recording destination) for the target event is acquired (S406). As this recording destination acquisition processing, acquisition from information stored in the nonvolatile memory 211 or the like as a recording destination set in advance for each event may be performed, or acquisition by other means may be performed. Details of this acquisition method will be described later. The acquired recording destination is set as a recording destination for the actual recording operation (S407). On the other hand, if it is determined in S405 that there is no target event, a normal recording destination (second recording destination) is set (S408). Here, the normal recording destination is, for example, a folder created for each date and time used in the conventional method. The normal recording destination is not limited to a folder created for each date and time as long as it is a filter generated according to a predetermined rule.

  Finally, it is determined whether or not the set recording destination exists (S409) .If it does not exist, it is newly created (S410), and the image data 413 acquired in S401 is recorded in the recording destination (S409). S411). In this recording control, recording to a file system on the recording unit 105 generally corresponds to this operation.

  Note that the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is merely an example, and it is needless to say that the processing can be performed even if part of the processing is different. For example, the photographing date acquisition process (S402) may be after the calendar information acquisition process (S403).

  In the present embodiment, as described above, an example in which a method of recording to a recording destination corresponding to an event (target event) associated based on the calendar information 107 (hereinafter referred to as a calendar method) is employed. The calendar method according to the present embodiment can also be selectively applied to a conventional method of performing unconditional recording in a folder automatically created according to the date and time (hereinafter referred to as a conventional method). For example, the UI may indicate that the user can select a calendar method and a conventional method. FIG. 5 shows an example UI for providing such a selection means. The UI is realized, for example, on a liquid crystal screen with a touch sensor provided in a digital camera. Hereinafter, the UI example illustrated in FIG. 5 will be described in detail. In the UI example shown in FIG. 5, a folder creation screen includes a selection area 501 for a new creation method, a selection area 502 for a calendar reference method, and an area 503 for a calendar event list.

  In the selection area 501 of the new creation method, there are two selection items of “automatic creation” and “calendar reference”. When "Automatic creation" is selected, the setting is made to create a new folder by the conventional method. When "Calendar reference" is selected, the setting is to create a new folder with calendar information. Is done. It is desirable to design these two selections exclusively from the viewpoint of simple operability. In other words, the conventional method and the calendar method are selected. Alternatively, it is possible to design the two selections at the same time. When both of these are selected, a folder is generated by the calendar method if an appropriate event exists in the calendar information, and the conventional method is applied when there is no appropriate event. Alternatively, both methods may be performed simultaneously. That is, when both are selected, a new folder is first created by the conventional method, and image data is stored in this. In addition, at the same time, a folder is also generated by the calendar method, and a copy of the image data or reference information to the image data is stored therein. Note that the UI layout design and layout interpretation are design specifications, and do not limit the present invention. Thus, by providing the area 501 for selecting a new recording destination folder creation method and storing the user's selection in, for example, the nonvolatile memory 211, the calendar method of this embodiment is selectively applied to the conventional method. It becomes possible.

  Further, by using the calendar reference method selection area 502, it is possible to select more detailed processing. The calendar reference method selection area 502 includes two selection items of “all events” and “individual designation”. When “all events” is selected, it is determined whether or not all events in the calendar information 107 are target events as described above, and recording is performed according to the determination result. On the other hand, when “individual designation” is selected, for each event included in the calendar information 107, whether to create a new folder or whether to store image data in a folder corresponding to the event. Set. Specific setting for each event is performed in an area 503 of the calendar event list. In the example of FIG. 5, the calendar information 107 illustrated in FIG. 3 is displayed, and date and time information of the event is displayed as a display 504 corresponding to “athletic meet” and a display 505 corresponding to “overseas business trip”. Yes. In the example of FIG. 5, the display 504 corresponding to “athletic meet” has been selected, and the display 505 corresponding to “overseas business trip” is not selected. When many events are included in the calendar information 107, all events can be referred to using the scroll bar 506. When the display 504 corresponding to the “athletic meet” has been selected as shown in FIG. 5, a new folder is created or an existing folder corresponding to the event is created only at the time of shooting corresponding to the “athletic meet” event. Image data is saved. More specifically, in the determination process of the target event in S405 of FIG. 4, whether or not the event is selected may be referred to as a determination condition in addition to whether or not the shooting dates and times overlap.

  As described so far, according to the calendar method of the present embodiment, referring to the calendar information 107, a folder corresponding to the event is newly created or selected from the events included therein, and image data is stored. Can do.

Correspondence Relationship between Event and Folder Hereinafter, the correspondence relationship between the event and the recording destination folder in the present embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 6 shows two examples of correspondence between events and folders in calendar information. In the figure, calendar information 107, a calendar / folder correspondence table 601, and an image data recording folder 602 are described. Since the calendar information 107 has already been described in detail, the description is omitted here. Also in FIG. 6, the calendar information 107 is described together with the line number in the iCalendar format. The contents are almost the same as in the example of FIG. 3, but the event is simplified to only one “athletic meet”. Note that. Information (lines 07 and 09) that is different from the example of FIG. 3 is also included, which will be described in detail later. The calendar / folder correspondence table 601 is a table that stores the correspondence between events included in the calendar information 107 and recording destination folders that record image data, and is held in the recording module 104. The calendar / folder correspondence table 601 may be held by the application module 102 or the calendar module 106. An image data recording folder 602 shows an example of a folder structure (directory structure) of a recording destination for recording photographed image data, and is configured in the recording unit 105.

  As described above, the information on the 07th and 09th lines is added to the calendar information 107 as information different from that in FIG. Hereinafter, these lines will be described.

  First, line 07 includes information described as “UID”, which is an ID for identifying an event. This UID is defined in iCalendar format. Here, the calendar / folder correspondence table 601 includes two entries, UID 605 and DIR 606. The UID 605 corresponds to the UID of line 07 included in the calendar information 107, and the DIR 606 indicates a folder in the image data recording folder 602. In the example of the calendar / folder correspondence table 601 shown in FIG. 6, there are a total of three data records in which “default” is described as the UID and two data records in which other UIDs are described. The UID described as 'uid2@sample.com' in the third data record is the same as the UID described in line 07 of the calendar information 107. Similarly, the description of “// DCIM / 102cano /” in the third data record indicates the folder 610 in the image data recording folder 602. Note that the second data record in the calendar / folder correspondence table 601 indicates a folder 609 in the image data recording folder 602.

  That is, in the example shown in FIG. 6, first, as a correspondence relationship from the calendar information 107 to the calendar / folder correspondence table 601, a reference as shown by an arrow 603 is made from the UID corresponding to the event, and the folder name as the recording destination is Identified. Then, as a correspondence relationship from the calendar / folder correspondence table 601 to the image data recording folder 602, a reference as shown by an arrow 604 is made, and a folder name as a recording destination and an actual recording destination (folder entity) are specified. In this embodiment, by using such a UID configuration, it is possible to associate events with folders. The correspondence control between events and folders is not limited to this example, and other methods may be applied.

  Next, the 09th line of the calendar information 107 includes information described as “LOCATION”. This is directory information indicating the recording location of the image data, and includes a character string of “DIR =“ file: // DCIM / 102cano / “” ”. This character string itself indicates a part of the folder structure in the image data recording folder 602. That is, by referring to the image data recording folder 602 from the calendar information 107 as shown by the arrow 611, the folder corresponding to the event is directly linked from the event information included in the calendar information 107. In the standardized iCalendar format, such a description method using “LOCATION” is not defined, that is, a description specific to the present embodiment.

  Here, in the calendar information 107, two UIDs of 07 line and LOCATION of 09 line are shown as association formats for event-corresponding recording destinations, but it is not necessary to provide both these formats. Either one of the formats can be realized, and a different similar format may be applied. For example, instead of the calendar / folder correspondence table 601, a UID may be recorded in a recording folder such as the folder 610. good. Furthermore, when information such as UID does not exist in the event included in the calendar information 107, it may be newly created. For example, a new data record is added to the calendar / folder correspondence table 601, a new recording folder is generated, and a UID specifying the event is added to the calendar information 107. In this case, the newly created recording folder path is described in DIR 606 in the calendar / folder correspondence table 601.

  Note that “default” of UID 605 in the calendar / folder correspondence table 601 indicates a folder setting as a default. That is, when the event does not exist in the calendar information 107, when the UID information is not included in the event, or when the user instructs the event not to generate a new folder, the data of the 'default' Use record information.

  Further, in the calendar information 107, it is possible to realize the association of an event and a folder by using information described in “SUMMARY” on line 08 instead of the UID. If the camera file system standard (DCF), which is currently widely used, is not particularly compliant, the folder name itself may be composed of information such as UID and SUMMARY.

Access to calendar information via the network The above is an example of referring to the calendar information 107 existing in the digital camera of the present embodiment. However, in the present embodiment, the calendar information accessed via the network 109 is described. The same can be realized by using 110. That is, in the present embodiment, necessary information is included as calendar information, and the calendar information may exist anywhere as long as it is accessible.

  Hereinafter, a supplementary description will be given of an example in which calendar information exists in a location accessed via the network 109, for example, in another information processing apparatus. In this case, the calendar module 106 does not refer to the calendar information 107 but refers to the calendar information 110 via the communication module 108. Specifically, it is only necessary that the application module 102 that performs actual processing instructs the calendar module 106 to handle the calendar information 110 in the same manner as the calendar information 107.

  In general, as a method of handling calendar information 110 recorded in another information processing apparatus on a network, various methods are known, such as a calendar service in which a unique communication procedure is provided on a protocol such as HTTP. As a standardized standardized method, there is a method called Calendaring Extensions to WebDAV (CalDAV) that the IETF proposes to standardize as RFC4791. This deals with calendar information in a method called Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebVAV), which IETF proposes as RFC4918. According to this method, only by adding the communication procedure itself, the calendar information 110 in the other information processing apparatus can be handled as if it were the calendar information 107 in the own apparatus.

  As described above, the calendar expression format in the present embodiment does not necessarily have to be a direct access file in the iCalendar format, and may be another format as long as similar information can be obtained. Further, both the calendar information 110 on the network and the calendar information 107 built in the digital camera may exist. In such a case, for example, a priority order may be set in advance.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, captured image data can be automatically distributed and recorded in folders created according to more detailed conditions other than simple date and time information such as event information. . As a result, the image data captured during the event can be easily managed without performing complicated distribution settings such as time settings.

Second Embodiment
Hereinafter, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, a case will be described in which recorded image data is moving image data having a time axis.

Moving Image Shooting Timing FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a relationship between a time zone for shooting moving image data and an event. Here, an example is shown in which the calendar information 107 illustrated in FIG. 6 in the first embodiment described above is referred to. In FIG. 7, the horizontal axis represents time. As an example, the event “uid2@sample.com” of “athletic meet” is defined, and the day of October 10, 2010 is schematically shown. In the figure, a rectangle 701 written as “uid2@sample.com” indicates a time zone of the event, and 09:30 to 14:00 indicates an “athletic meet” event. In addition, five rectangles of moving image A702 to moving image E706 indicate time zones from the start to the end of moving image data shooting. In general, a moving image is different from a still image in that the shooting time is not the moment represented by the shooting date and time, but has a time range, so the shooting start date and time and the end date and time are different. Hereinafter, the moving image A702 to the moving image E706 are simply expressed as moving image A to moving image E.

  It should be noted here that moving image data has a time zone, that is, a time range, and therefore it is not necessarily an alternative between the inside and outside of the event time zone recorded in the calendar information 107. is there. For example, for movie B, the shooting start date and time is outside the event time zone, but the shooting end date and time is within the time zone. Conversely, for movie D, the shooting start date and time is within the event time zone, but the shooting end date and time is outside the event time zone. In addition, the moving image C has all the image data in the event time zone, and the moving image A and the moving image E do not exist at all in the event time zone. In the second embodiment, when the image data does not necessarily fall within the event time zone, the image recording destination is determined by the user's designation or a predetermined method.

In the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 of the first embodiment described above, when there is a target event whose shooting date and time overlaps the event time zone (S405), the recording destination corresponding to the target event is selected. An example of performing the acquisition process (S406) has been shown. In the second embodiment, the following control is performed in the event determination process of S405.

  First, in S402, not only the current time but also the shooting start date and time and the shooting end date and time are acquired as shooting date and time information. Thereby, the determination of the target event in S405 can be performed according to the shooting period indicated by the shooting start date and time and the shooting end date and time.

  Here, some examples of the target event determination method will be described. Note that the target event determination method that is actually applied is specified by the user from the UI or the like, or predetermined in the digital camera.

  First, only when all the image data is included in the event time zone, it is conceivable that the event is set to be determined as the target event. In such a case, if both the shooting start date and time and the shooting end date and time are within the event time zone, it is determined as a target event in S405. This example corresponds to the moving image C shown in FIG. Further, in the setting for determining as a target event when at least a part of the image data is included in the event time zone, it is determined as the target event if at least one of the shooting start date and time or the end date and time is within the event time zone. . In this example, the moving image B, the moving image C, and the moving image D shown in FIG. In addition, even if the image data is not within the event time zone, if it is set to be determined as the target event if it is the same day as the event, the shooting start date and time or end date and time is the same as the event, Become a target event. In this example, all of the moving images A to E correspond. Although not shown, when the captured moving image data is included in a plurality of events, an event in which more times overlap may be determined as a target event.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the recording destination of moving image data can be set in consideration of the shooting start date and time and the shooting end date and time, so that more detailed management is possible.

<Third Embodiment>
The third embodiment according to the present invention will be described below. In the third embodiment, an example in which image data is stored in an image sharing service or a storage service on a network will be described.

  For example, it is well known that a configuration that enables storage in a so-called remote disk or remote storage connected via a local area network (LAN) or the like can be taken. As such a configuration, a method of handling a recording device on a network as if directly connected, such as a network file system, is known. The third embodiment further shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a storage service on the Internet called a so-called web service.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between calendar information 110 on the web and web services in the third embodiment. The calendar information 110 is the same as the calendar information 107 illustrated in FIG. 6 in the first embodiment described above. The calendar / service correspondence table 801 is a table for storing the correspondence relationship between the event included in the calendar information 110 and the recording destination folder for recording the image data and the user ID connected to the web service. In the calendar service correspondence table 801, the UID 803 is equivalent to the UID 605 in the calendar / folder correspondence table 601 shown in FIG. 6, and the DIR 804 is also equivalent to the DIR 606. However, in the third embodiment, connection information to a web service such as an image sharing service is recorded as DIR804. For example, for data whose UID is 'uid2@sample.com', the relative connection path on this web service is recorded. In this way, by setting a connection path to a service on the network as a recording destination, it is possible to record an image on an image sharing service linked to a calendar.

  The calendar service correspondence table 801 further includes a data column of USER805. This is an area for storing a user ID connected to the service. By referring to the calendar service correspondence table 801 from the calendar information 110 as shown by an arrow 802, the folder corresponding to the event and the connected user ID are linked from the event information included in the calendar information 110.

  In many cases, procedures and information unique to various web services or the like need to be held at the time of implementation. Therefore, FIG. 8 cannot be said to be a general-purpose example. However, the connection procedure to the web service or the like is not the essence of the present invention, and the third embodiment shows an example in which the image can be stored in the service on the network by holding the connection information to the web service. It ’s just that. It is obvious that by providing information applicable to access to various web services, it is possible to determine a service for storing image data for each event and a recording folder within the service.

  Further, in the example of the calendar information 110 shown in FIG. 8, new attribute information is given as “CLASS” on the 09th line. This character string of 'CLASS: PUBLIC' indicates that this event has been made public. By describing such attribute information indicating whether or not to be disclosed in the calendar information 110, it is possible to control the web service so as to store the image data as publishable. In the calendar / service correspondence table 801 shown in FIG. 8, there is a data record in which “public” is described as the UID 803. As described above, it is possible to set in advance that an event for which “public” is specified as the UID in the calendar information 110 has a public attribute and is recorded as image data that can be disclosed. In addition, for recording image data having a shared attribute, there are a method of setting a recording destination folder to have a shared attribute and a method of setting the image data itself to a shared attribute. Depends on the conditions.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, it is possible to control recording of image data in an image sharing service or a storage service on the web.

<Fourth embodiment>
The fourth embodiment according to the present invention will be described below. In the first to third embodiments described above, examples in which the present invention is applied to a digital camera have been described. In the fourth embodiment, an example in which an image management service is provided by implementing the present invention in a web service, that is, a computer on a network or the like will be described.

System Configuration FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an application example of the present invention to the image management service on the web in the fourth embodiment. In the figure, a configuration is shown in which a digital camera 901 having a communication function is connected to a web service 902 via a network 109. In the following, a web service may be simply referred to as a service.

  Since the digital camera 901 has a communication function, a communication module is incorporated in addition to the functions of a general digital camera. Here, the digital camera 901 is taken as an example, but other devices can be applied as long as they can upload image data to the image management service. For example, a function of uploading captured image data to a service on a network is also known in a mobile phone with a camera function. Also, a function of storing image data taken on a personal computer (PC) or the like and uploading the image data from this PC to a service on a network is widely used.

  The web service 902 includes an HTTP server 903 that performs communication protocol processing, and a plurality of modules for providing an actual service. For example, the web application 904 provides a service to the user using a mechanism called “Common Gateway Interface (CGI)” that operates the application on a server. The user management module 905 provides authentication processing and the like for user access to the web application 904. For example, functions such as authentication of access to a web service and identification of a user are provided by using user information such as a user ID and a password from user information 906 stored on the server. The calendar server module 907 accesses the calendar information 110 and provides various functions such as addition, update, deletion, and reference of event information. The calendar information 110 has the same configuration as that in the first to third embodiments described above. Various web services that simply provide a schedule management function are known. In the fourth embodiment, such a web service is realized by a combination of an HTTP server 903, a web application 904, a user management module 905, user information 906, a calendar server module 907, and calendar information 110. A schedule management service is provided by accessing using a so-called web browser.

  The image storage module 908 accesses the image storage 909 and provides functions such as addition, update, and deletion of image data. The image distribution module 910 accesses the image storage 909 and provides a distribution function for stored image data. Various services are also known as services that simply provide a distribution function of image data. Similar to the schedule management service described above, the image data communication service is also realized by the following combinations of the configurations shown in FIG. That is, a combination of an HTTP server 903, a web application 904, a user management module 905, user information 906, an image storage module 908, an image storage 909, and an image distribution module 910. A specific example of a communication service is a service that uploads image data saved on a PC by a user to a web service, saves it, divides it into folders, or displays it in an album-like format. . In addition, a service is also provided in which a shared folder or a public attribute is assigned to a specific folder so that the folder is opened to users who access with a user ID different from that of the uploader. Furthermore, the image data is not limited to a still image, and a service for widely disclosing moving image data is widely used.

Image Management Hereinafter, a usage example of the image management service in the fourth embodiment will be described. Here, it is assumed that calendar information 110 has been registered in advance.

  First, the user accesses the web application 904 from the digital camera 901 by connecting to the HTTP server 903. At this time, the web application 904 performs authentication based on the user ID via the user management module 905. In the authentication process, a plurality of communication processes may be performed between the digital camera 901 and the web application 904, or a single communication process may be performed by referring to an access character string or the like. With this authentication process, the user is specified on the web application 904.

  After the user authentication, the digital camera 901 uploads the image data to be saved to the web application 904. HTTP may be used as the uploading method, or another communication protocol may be used. The uploaded image data is passed from the web application 904 to the image storage module 908. The process of acquiring image data in the image storage module 908 is equivalent to the image data acquisition process (S401) shown in FIG. 4 in the first embodiment described above.

  The image storage module 908 refers to the uploaded image data and acquires the shooting date / time information of the image data. This shooting date / time information acquisition process is also equivalent to the shooting date / time acquisition process (S402) shown in FIG. Here, as the shooting date / time information of the image data, the shooting date / time included in the image data may be referred to, or the shooting date / time information may be transmitted from the digital camera 901 together with the image data. If the image data is a moving image, the shooting start date / time and end date / time included in the image data may be acquired, and the shooting end date / time is calculated from the shooting date / time and the playback time (shooting time) of the video. May be.

  Next, the image storage module 908 requests the calendar server module 907 to acquire calendar information in order to acquire the calendar information 110 corresponding to the already specified user. This process corresponds to the calendar information acquisition process (S403) shown in FIG.

  Through the series of processes so far, the image storage module 908 can determine the target event corresponding to the shooting date / time information (S405). If it is determined that there is a target event, the uploaded image data is stored in an area associated with the target event. Since the subsequent processing is the same as the image data recording processing in the first embodiment described above, description thereof is omitted here.

  Note that the image data recording destination in the fourth embodiment may be a position defined as a file system, or a physical recording destination and a virtual recording destination actually provided as a web service. It may be different. In other words, the recording destination presented to the user may be in a format that can be viewed in advance as a folder structure.

  Further, the case where the calendar information 110 has been registered in advance has been described as an example, but the calendar information can be set later. In this case, for example, the uploaded image is temporarily stored in a normal image data storage destination. Then, after setting or updating the calendar information, the image data may be stored again in an appropriate folder with reference to the calendar information by a user operation or automatically. Further, when an image data distribution function is provided as a web service, the image data may be set to be disclosed according to the sharing attribute of the calendar information. This is the same as described in the third embodiment.

  Further, the calendar information 110 in the fourth embodiment is not necessarily the calendar information owned by the user. In general, a service that provides a schedule management function uses a function for sharing calendar information owned by others. Therefore, the calendar information 110 may be public calendar information accessible by the user. When referring to such published calendar information, the uploaded image data may be stored as shared image data in a user storage location or a shared storage location. When a user storage destination is used, the access right of the shared calendar information is given to this storage destination.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, it is possible to provide an image management service as a web service.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (11)

Image data acquisition means for acquiring captured image data and information of the shooting date and time;
Calendar information acquisition means for acquiring calendar information;
Event determination means for determining whether or not the event information included in the calendar information includes target event information in which the event time zone specified in the event information overlaps the shooting date and time;
Recording control means for recording image data determined to have information on the target event in a first recording destination for the target event and recording image data determined to have no information in a second recording destination When,
An image processing apparatus comprising:   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a recording destination acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the first recording destination using information on the target event.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording destination acquisition unit acquires information on a recording destination included in the target event information as information indicating the first recording destination.   4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording control unit creates the first recording destination when the first recording destination does not exist. 5. The image data acquisition means acquires moving image data and information on its shooting period,
5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the event determination unit determines the event information in which the shooting period and the event time period overlap as information on the target event. 6. .   The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the event determination unit determines the event information having the longest period in which the shooting period and the event time period overlap as information on the target event. Furthermore, it has a communication means for performing communication with the information processing apparatus,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calendar information acquisition unit acquires the calendar information from the information processing apparatus by the communication unit. Furthermore, it has a communication means for performing communication with the information processing apparatus,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording control unit records the image data in the information processing apparatus via the communication unit.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the communication unit connects to a web service. An image processing method in an image processing apparatus having image data acquisition means, calendar information acquisition means, event determination means, and recording control means,
The image data acquisition means acquires captured image data and information of the shooting date and time,
The calendar information acquisition means acquires calendar information,
The event determining means determines whether or not the event information included in the calendar information includes information on a target event in which the event time zone specified in the event information and the shooting date / time overlap,
The recording control means records the image data determined to have the target event information in a first recording destination for the target event, and the image data determined to have no information to the second recording destination. And an image processing method.   A program for causing a computer device to function as each unit of the image processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 when executed on the computer device.

Images